By Adam Cooper

October 10, 2012 — 12.22pm

Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle says a proposed 220-metre building in the CBD is too big and it is "arrogant" for apartments to have already been sold despite the project still awaiting ministerial approval.

Cr Doyle today said the 71-storey Tower Melbourne residential building was an over-development of the area and a good example why projects of such scale should be decided upon by the city, not the state government.

The City of Melbourne has formally opposed the tower, earmarked for the south-east corner of Queen and Bourke streets, but the authority of projects above 25,000 square metres rests with the state planning minister.

Planning Minister Matthew Guy is yet to give the project the go-ahead, but sources said his approval was imminent.

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An artist's impression of how the tower will appear in Melbourne's skyline.

Cr Doyle, who is campaigning to be re-elected as lord mayor, said Tower Melbourne was too big for the site. He raised concerns the building would dwarf the rest of the city and fail to add to the its culture at street level.

"I think it's too big," said Cr Doyle, who acknowledged he was pro-development.

"You've got to remember that in the core of our city we do have some tall buildings, and that's terrific. But we don't want canyons and we want to think about the culture of the city.

"To me the most important thing is what happens when the building hits the footpath because it's got to be active and it's got to be something that adds to the culture of Melbourne and it's got to have a human scale.

The proposed Tower Melbourne, described by campaigning councillors as a 'blight'.

"But when you start getting these enormous buildings, these mega-buildings, you've got to stand back and look at the context as a whole. The council is on record as opposing this one as an over-development of the site."

Cr Doyle said it was inappropriate for some of the project's 581 apartments to have already been sold off the plans before the project had been formally approved.

"It's not only a bit cheeky, I think it's a little bit arrogant," the former state Liberal leader said.

"This is a process that's still in train. I understand it's still on the minister's desk. He hasn't said yes or no yet."

Cr Doyle said he was concerned Tower Melbourne could be followed by other large-scale developments in the city that the council would have no control over. He said all planning decisions in the city should be returned to the council from the state government.

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"I'm always concerned by that and that's one of the beauties of returning that planning power to the city," he said.

"Because what we do is look at the city in its entirety as things are developing, not project by project. That's the strength of having that power returned to the city."